Day 4 : July 8
DAY FOUR
Handout:
for days four and five your journey should:
1. clearly connect to one or more of the curriculum connections standards
2. be deep or wide or both
3. if connected to art, deal with art created in the last 20 years
4. demonstrate the higthest degree of engagement and inspiration (not as easily assessed as "influence")
We need to make the connections explicit ie, science.
Tears of potential
Kathy: some questions collapse upon themselves, ie. "when was Monet born?" Other questions/challenges can open up fruitful paths...and the right path could be a life's work. What sorts of questions/challenges do we offer our students?
Erica video: my dream that all school days would begin with a movement ritual.
Lay down your burden dance created by a friend, Leslie Butler Barron.
LAY DOWN YOUR BURDEN
Directed by Erica (Drew) Schwartz
Edited by Stephanie Homan
The Boston English High School
A grand treat was the trip to the art store with grant money for each student to choose desired materials! Buying and trying supplies is a wonderful part of being an artist, isn't it! Most of the day has been spent in uninterupted studio time. Eleanor has met one on one with all to get them into the AEContent web site and wiki and there is new material online for everyone to see!
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Day 3: July 7
Artist Q&A -- the dialogs with your artists and each other are on the wiki pages.
Morning stuff: Crowe: Robyn’s drawing was enlivened by her statements. Artists change the familiar to the strange. And like the Weintraub article we go from influence to inspiration. Robyn: the naked trees represent my inability to finish anything! It is the life of the teacher, the mother. Crowe: “she appropriated from herself.” Robyn:“this course gave me everything Crowe: so how do we do this for our student, give them what they need and how can they There follows a discussion of poor conditions in public schools vis a vis the arts. Kathy notes that this conversation has been going on for the entire thirty years of her teaching career and she predicts that it will be still going thirty years from now. Question: “what is the role of the artist through history in oppressive communities? And what is the role of the art teacher in the sometimes unsupportive community of a public school?
Sue gave us a demonstration of the GOCO printer from Japan. Printmaking is a democratic art form; you can make multiples, share and give away. The GOCO is like an “easy bake oven” silkscreen machine. Available at Rugg Road Paper Company on Charles Street in Boston. Workshops in its use are also available there.
Diane gave us a demonstration of photo copy transfers using wintergreen oil, a linement available at drug stores. Cheap carbon-rich photocopies work best; the image will always be reversed. Smoother paper will give more distinct images; images can be printed on smooth polyester.
LAST CRITIQUE’ Make a piece that connects with a person place or thing One hour to complete (Image Gallery)
Erika: danced to her paper footprints.
Carol connects to all of us
Robin My students
Eva: sculpture this is my connections hat. I found this light bulb upstairs; I went back to it about three times. It is wrapped and connected all around. All the connections are coming out of this week including the cheese curls and it connects to my heart.
Iris Scroll in bagel: on both sides embedded in bagel. Message in a bagel. Like a torah or a book. It is about a blessed man in my life; you can have your cake and eat it too.
Jeanne: My mother in law; she is an artist; everything she touches is a piece of art.
Kathy: this will be a book about my father.
Marcia: Hawaii. When you are out in paradise why come back to New England? My son is going to Hawaii. I would love to go myself. When I travel it is always to the sun. But here I am taking courses in the summer!
Eleanor: I was thinking about how I never do figurative art. It is usually about places. I will just sit down and draw John but he didn’t stay still for a second. He didn’t stand still long enough even for a mental picture. I was working on these squares and I tried to have a dialogue with the grid I made and it was the weird shapes I have been playing with. It is not done.
John told us a story about Diagram Man.
Diane: I go kayaking. One of the photos I had there was no focus…it was about entering in the spiritual side. An overall composition with no focal point and about making marks and movement. Crowe: “she was really connecting up there.”
Diana: I brought these Victorian magazines called physical culture. They are a riot and interesting. I watched show about diet wars. It is so beautiful in my studio. I started with blue and then this guy was there and it is sort of a portrait of john…(kathy: “john is turning in to a muse.” ) I tried a retard with these acrylics. The viewfinder in the center is a reserved space.
Deborah: I just let him influence me: mark tansey. We had something in common blue-based blacks and grays. Maybe he was trying to tell me to use some red. So I tried this in red.
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July 6: Day two
(Gallery of Images Day 2)
Choosing spaces: 109, Arnheim, 2d floor studios Charts will be built up day by day from home research. Eleanor has made [this] online version of [the journal]. Kathy will take notes. Charts will serve as pre and post test of workshop. Charts and visual research serve as the academic papers of this hybrid course. Sharing in a virtual forum Diane will demo wintergreen oil transfers before lunch
[Elevate an everyday activity to art]
Diana: performance piece First connection with dog, ancient and then yoga: downward facing dog
Erica: video: dance handshake
Kathy: IM piece: virtual connection
Jen: "I started sculpting with dog food, then three large drawings—I am a stay at home mom, consumed with momhood since birth... every day I change diapers so it is diapers, sort of like Jim dine; I like to do stamps over and over. At first it was orderly, then I started playing and developed them as drawing. It was very freeing; I like this class so I don’t have to be mom. It was a fun assignment I used easycut and stamped. It is like linoleum, but like butter."
Iris: mobile of makeup. "It was very interesting putting it together; I had to learn where the balance was. It reminded me of math. I never really want to wear too much makeup or take too much time so there is a balance there." Crowe: "the blush case looks like a Rothko painting from a distance."
Deborah: Cat Hair on drawing looks like a landscape: it looks like Cape Cod
Eva: "I used a theme of animals; started one I was not happy with. The first thing I do is pet the dog that is on my bed." Even before that: remote mounted on cardboard. "I thought about what makes it art; like a Duchamp readymade, my first connection with the world is the television and the newspaper. I am half asleep and hear all the words on the news."
Carol: "This is an improvisational sculpture: the connection is every morning when I go to work my son is still sleeping. I kiss him goodbye as he sleeps. I have to step over the mess, the junk. I bend over to kiss him on the futon. I am trying to learn about 3-D so I had to do 3-D. You can place paper objects wherever you want and try to balance. Can I do it and make contact without falling on him?" Crowe calls this a sculptural dance. Call it "carol’s kiss".
Robyn: "I love nature I love my yard. I hate to leave home when it is beautiful. I love my trees. My everyday connection is…looking up at the sky and admiring the sky's color changes because I live off of a street called Sunset Street—it has the most breathtaking and awesome sunsets. Even though the trees are bare in these pictures here, just seeing the structure and set up of the landscapes that we live in…when I travel that is the fist thing I appreciate of the environment. I also love the landscape when I travel to Arizona cactuses. John Marin, Hartley, other connections.
Marcia: see handout. Looking at my house, the house is a foundation. This represents some of the things that support a family, things artist needs to support them inspiration, curiosity, materials, budget, support, time, guidance, domain, opportunities, loops that is the aerobic connection
Marcia: "The money that passes thru my hands is unbelievable! The cash, the coins the credit cards! I have two kids in college, I love to shop, there's the cars, the vacations, the bills, the house! The red stripe indicates that I am in the red." Crowe notes the balance.
Diane P. "I needed to connect with myself."
Crowe: "We choose what to connect with…" Diane: "This is a long-term connection. I have not written for six years…I tried to pick up from where I left off."
Each of us looks at number eight work: we will each interpret in a single sentence what we see in the work. Afterward we will make poems or something from the offerings. Everybody gets attention quickly. And that is our crit. It is elegant! It must be interpretation, not judgment. Something connects with something and I see this. Free writing; let yourself disappear. Now comments connected in some way by the artist and presented to class.
Iris: it can be a puff book (pencil drawings) This reminds me of magnetic poetry
Jen "This gave me ideas for a story…once upon a time…"
Carol: "learning down? Up?"
Deborah: "surreal dream play, so curious."
Robyn: "family connects to its space. I used all of the comments in my poem."
What would be the visual equivalent of that? Crowe: " could you do something with a visual flood? " "Maybe I could look for bedroom scenes…and Sophie Calle and advertising and dream work, psychology."
Eva: artist teacher: "I want the things I say to be heard."
Diana: "found objects unexpected objects some are real and some are false…"
Erika: Music going: layers of complexity…"I made a statement…I tried to connect music with a picture and I couldn’t make the connection. I looked thru books and wanted to make connection between artwork and architecture and music…my daughter chose a picture to go with the music…it was supposed to be 1939…the music goes with the visual; with students it helps if they have a visual to go with the music."
Marcia: "build a strong foundation filled with a creative artist."
Diane: "I am creating a three dimensional object from the slips of paper."
Crowe: we will share some stories each day before lunch. In our own practice, ways that we can connect
Each of us has our own style; there are many ways of connecting to this assignment. How are the questions, how are the answers…woman had a dialogue with a dead person…imaginative and scholarly…. conceptually ask questions or literally ask questions. Your connection to another artist. We are asking questions and answers. Can include a visual quote We are doing research into these artists but we are quoting them visually…
Erika; "it is incredible how the different art forms think. This is so alien to me. May we ask these questions of various disciplines?" Crowe; "we flow from one standard to another. (Imagine if Crowe were taking a music class.) Work will be taped up in the gallery
New before lunch tradition: stories of practice of how we connect, meet standards.
Crowe: This story is from East Bridgewater, where I was the lone art teacher. Arts lottery grants were brand new…I wrote a grant. Wanted to connect to the community…I decided to hire guest artists to visit my classes but I wanted to include the wider East Bridgewater community. So the visiting artist gave a problem related to my students’ work. Give my students an assignment related to your work. Then I will post your assignment in the local newspaper for community members to do. You will be the critic of the work. Some came in without the work…I did this four times. Six community folks came in with the work. They would put it up with the students’ and talked about their work. Real simple! Great public relations for the program. Standard 7
How did you structure your projects to connect?
My advanced students were always drawing one another; it got old. So Kodak came out with instant photos…sent out creativity challenge…during art time or study hall and draw an adopted grandparent…contour drawings spend time. We hired professional photographer who taught about how to make good portraits…students made good photo portraits with the instant cameras, and then worked from the photos. Some worked from grids. Students made paintings on raw canvas…presented portraits at nursing home with emotional reception.
The art history apple…took place over a year with advanced students. Represent the history of art thru the painting of an apple. What would prehistoric look like and why: to insure that it was edible, etc then impressionist apple and why…this was done now and then on gridded canvas…when did art change? From necessity to art for arts sake…then they engaged themselves…they did the research but the connection was made in making the art…
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July 5, 2004: First day
Papers on the wall:
1. Verbs related to connect
2. Nouns related to connection
3. Why connect things?
4. Ways to connect to other artists, other arts and a variety of art purposes
5. Ways to connect to communities
6. Ways to connect to various styles, stylistic influences and change
7. Ways to connect to other disciplines
8. Other thoughts
9. How can we make connections for students?
10. How can we help students make their own connections?
9:30 am: Crow turns out the lights and puts on vocal music
In the classroom most people are sitting by now, now and then one gets up and writes some more. Some reading wall, some re reading handouts, some just looking bored.
The music: soothing interesting…then something that comes to the front; traditional rendering of Gershwin’s Summertime followed by a remix/re do of it that still has some traditional singing Verve//Unmixed and Verve//Remixed
So we are thinking about influence, inspiration, re-configuring of something very beloved and familiar…
Using the charts everyone in class must "speak"; some look students look happy some look disgruntled; this is a very normal beginning for a Crowe class~!
At 9:40 plywood squares passed out, lights are turned back on, music turned down. Iris draws on a blank chart and Crowe joins her…Is that the connection she was looking for in her post ("its interesting to me that we have all this about connection going on and yet one might assume upon first glance that you are not connecting to us or allowing us to connect with one another. Perhaps this is forcing us to connect to ourselves or find unexplored methods of connecting.")
John tells stories of his teaching: excellent connection with the teachers; he does this sitting on the floor in the center of all the chairs.
Points out handouts. Discusses grades, Total engagement is necessary for this class!
Piles of mistakes are great; level of engagement is important.
Dialogue squares: "I don’t wanna be a teacher of technical writing!"
To balance all those papers coming in: Crowe needed a connection artist to artist. It was a visual offering—"I would go to my studio and respond to their offerings. There was a teacher to teacher connection, artist to artist connection." Crowe’s doctoral dissertation; art about teaching teachers. 7x7 to which could be photocopied…put limitations on it…no more than double the size or six inches deep. Before lunchtime, students will put name on the back; make a visual offering; a visual equivalent of hi! In the afternoon Crowe will respond. Squares go home to bring back and forth. These will never be talked about until Friday. Students will jot down feelings about responses and share dialogue square stories on Friday.
Kathy will publish a newsletter every day.
There are group places to work and solitary places; there are noisy places and silent places.
Crowe gets sick and tired of his own voice; in the summer time he tries not to speak. Lots of pantomime and writing and "cheating". Experimented in UMass course; how necessary was his voice? He noticed more stuff. No obligation to respond verbally. Laryngitis in high school: calligraphy. (foam brushes) hang a teacher out of order sign around his neck. One per week. Non speaking days were better. We live in such a noisy culture—we need a reverence for silence. He tried this in personal life in summer before noon. We talk for a living: this is a secular Sabbath.
Student says: your voice is soothing to other people. Another strategy: change the voice. When you can’t talk it is not good.
If you are not thinking of what you will say you can be more present. Connections more profound with silence.
Student: my silent students produce the most art.
Silence makes students less teacher dependent.
Crowe says he tended to help too much…(my problem also…) music also.
Visual math problem
Two little squares, black pen or pencil, scissors.
One reproduction +-x/other reproduction?
Use the photocopy machine for answer to flatten it out.
Display of mathematical equations: what variety!!
Try to look at all the equations: do they make sense to you?
Question the mathematician:
1. I was thinking a whole different way and then it made sense…
2. Unlike 2x2=4 there can be correct answers that we do not understand. These are not literal equations.
3. If it is multiplication should it be more than the other two? Or could one be a fraction? Is the multiplication of size or of the content?
4. Is the size multiplied? Scale?
5. People were selective in what they multiplied…
6. We could not increase the total size so we had to be selective.
7. A problem that you pose to students should be generative or fruitful. I am surprised by your answers.
8. There is the multiplication of imagery; if you are multiplying a mood: can you make it more evocative?
9. It should be less than that at the very least!
10. Minus the calm image the Basquiat becomes less calm. Freestyle minus the calm creates the exaggerated affect. Not formal sense but affective sense. So subtracting the calm drawing subtracts restraint.
11. This minus less sleep equals the chaotic drawing.
12. What happens when you remove the figurative aspects of the Basquait?
13. So my question is how can we apply this exercise in preparation for the MCAS?
14. Can we get a meaningful slant on the basic operations?
15. Are there many sorts of logic at work here?
16. Can you take away something that does not exist?
17. These are all examples of that: two completely different images—how can we take something from the image that is not there?
18. How does this apply to math as taught in school?
19. I did this straight mathematical equation with this; then I see your work and its deep thinking…it is a little un nerving. If you don’t think like this…
20. Some of my students do not think like this…can I help them think like this?
21. Our dancing member: choose one of the words and superimposing it on the reclining figure, then move the figure with that word! This would work very nicely with movement. Choose a word from the Basquait and use it to animate the reclining figure. (robin demonstrates)
22. Then a repetition could be added to it.
23. Students using gymnastic equip made a gymnastic sentence with punctuation mark at the end.
24. Image one times four added to image two equals: it was done as a transfer, oil of wintergreen (from drugstore) and rubbed and transferred. Used to be done with lighter fluid and turpentine.
25. Iris:I was kind of lost. I got into the elements instead of any particular thing. I subtracted the figure and was left with the lines.
26. Isn’t that what you do when you abstract? Take away?
Purposes of the arts, standard #6
Tell a story
Remember
Make a statement
Record
Capture
To figure out
Influence
Inventive animated ways of using the frameworks
As Picasso was inspired by African art masks, so maybe you be inspired by something in a book…scientific discoveries.
Connect with other disciplines: science, etc.
Be playful in a new connection…relate to the game we played today with the math equations and two reproductions. Do not think too hard: pose something, overlap something, and do not force it. Make up your own rules. Be conscious of which category it fits in…
Postmodern architects take little bits and make connections from modernism, tribal architecture and mix it all up and make connections…i.e. Frank Gheary building at MIT.
Do you want to specialize? Or do you want to play the field and try all the connections? Connect to work already on the table; make different connections each day if you wish. And how can you modify this to return to your schools?
Sophia Calle: self-portrait show; did not want to do a traditional self-portrait. She had a person follow her around (private eye)
Document daily life…
away?
Afternoon session 7/5
Look at the verb lists on the wall and choose a couple, which resonate with you (or consult a thesaurus for ideas.
Take a daily connection no matter how minute and promote it to the level of art. I.e. Unlocking door, buttering toast etc. How do you promote non-art objects to the status of art?
Stylistic change
Connections to math
Make up your own systems, your own rules.
Animating the Curriculum Frameworks Wiki Pages
Exploring Digital Art Wiki Pages
AEContent Web Links
(lots of great indexed and annotated resources)
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photos: Eleanor Ramsay